Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday the city would renew its efforts on Vision Zero heading into the darkest days of the year, traditionally the deadliest time for pedestrians. After 19 people were killed and more than 5,000 were injured in city traffic during the month of October , according to City Hall, traffic fatalities declined nearly 50 percent thanks to efforts unveiled by the mayor on Oct. 27.

“With Vision Zero, we have said our agencies would work creatively to see what works -- and a month into the current Dusk and Dark Initiative, we have strong evidence that we can deter dangerous driving with targeted seasonal enforcement and education,” de Blasio said.

“Vision Zero has just begun, you ain’t seen nothing yet. This is just the beginning of something that is going to go much farther. We’re going to continue to deepen enforcement for months and years to come to drive down the number of fatalities. And all the good work at the Department of Transportation — changing traffic patterns, redesigning streets, adding more islands for pedestrians to stop at so they are safe, slowing down the traffic signals so that pedestrians have more time to cross the streets — all of those will have a big impact in the years to come.”

From Oct. 27 through last week, the NYPD issued more than 50,000 summonses for hazardous moving violations and placed additional Traffic Safety personnel at intersections and corridors with high rates of pedestrian injuries and fatal crashes during key dusk and darkness hours. The NYPD has also launched TrafficStat, an online database which will provide collision and crash data from around the city, accessible at trafficstat.nypdonline.org which will be updated each Tuesday.

The online data was welcomed by Paul Steely White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, but after the deaths on Queens’ streets of 8-month-old Navraj Raju, 13-year-old Jazmine Marin, and a still unidentified man who was struck and killed in Corona Nov. 4 , he said much more needs to be done.

“While the November drop in traffic deaths cited in today’s press conference is encouraging, the overall trend this year has been anything but, with increases in hit-and-runs and pedestrian and cyclist fatalities,” Steely White said. “These fatalities, we hasten to add, are not on the rise because people are texting while walking and biking. In fact, most pedestrian and bike deaths are caused by reckless driving, on streets that are dangerously designed to encourage speeding.”

The safe streets advocate called for the mayor to invest in the redesign of hundreds of streets and intersections identified as “Vision Zero Priority Locations” nearly two years ago.

“Instead of brief enforcement blitzes followed by a return to business as usual, however, we need a sustained effort that focuses on these deadly driver behaviors all year long, across the precincts, to save lives in every community,” Steely White said.

Reader feedback

samD from queens says:

How about reckless mayoring...?

Dec. 3, 2016, 6:57 am

James C. Walker from Wall Street says:

There is one, and ONLY one, way to reach zero traffic fatalities. You must totally effectively limit the speed of every car, truck, bus, train, motorcycle, bicycle, wheelchair, skateboard, etc. to zero mph with no exceptions. Then there will be no traffic fatalities with moving vehicles - because there will be no moving vehicles.

And commerce will collapse.

James C. Walker, National Motorists Association

Dec. 3, 2016, 12:57 pm

Stephen says:

How about a bit of honesty by city. How many crashes were REALLY CAUSED BY Pedestrians and Bike riders.

IF 50% were caused by pedestrians and bike riders, than not addressing them is DISHONEST!

The bike/ped activist love to blame cars on every single episode usually blaming "speed" as if a car 5 over somehow caused a pedestrian to walk against a signal. (note even the "speed related" claim you here them use is misleading as it counts, crashes below the limit but too fast (weather), illegal street racing (usually you end up in Jail if you hurt someone), and any crash above the limit REGARDLESS of cause (like a drive 5 over who hits a drunk bike rider running a light), note the 5 over DID NOT cause this, but the DRUNK BIKE RIDER!

There are times motorists are at fault. (as mention above), but many hit and runs have more going on than just a simple "speed'. You are talking about driving without insurance/license, DUI, even criminal activity. This is not a issue of "speed" control, but of officers needing to patrol not petty "speeding' but of general criminal behavior.

www.motorists.orgBan the Cams on FacebookCamerafraud on Facebook

Dec. 3, 2016, 2 pm

Phillygametime from N/A says:

I just want you to See the truth why pedestrians are getting Killed and Senior's are getting KILLED more often!Vision Zero is all about taking MONEY away from SAFE DRIVERS! Look Deaths have GONE UP IN NY for reasons like this!https://youtu.be/n1xLCeQAUYA

Dec. 3, 2016, 3 pm

bikes are the main problem from Queens says:

Recently I walked around midtown Manhattan. Bikes routinely went through red lights, rode the WRONG way on one-way streets and cut off trucks in intersections. They do not belong on city streets period.

Dec. 5, 2016, 10:30 am

Joe Moretti from Jamaica says:

For off, as a bike rider myself, I constantly see idiots bike riders speeding on sidewalks (against the law), going the opposite way of a one way street, going thru red lights and stop signs and just being plain ignorant entitled a-holes.

Place speed bumps on streets where speeding is a problem. Start enforcing the laws with trucks driving illegally on residential streets.

Vision Zero has been a zero, because there is not the proper enforcement on the issues, but then there is not proper information on many issues in this city.

https://cleanupjamaicaqueens.wordpress.com/

Dec. 5, 2016, 11:59 am

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